Rubber vehicle-tire.



No. 855,698. PATBNTED SEPT. 1o', 1907.

J. J. Mmmm.

RUBBER vEHcLB TIRE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20. 1905-.

f. 0 i 7 l wm. o@ Www. a

l YNo.'865,693;l

.UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN' J. HENDLISRQ'OF CHICAGO'.l ILLINOIS, ASISIGNOR T0 TIGER TIRE' C'OMPANY, A CORPORA Be itrknown that .I J. Hartman, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ol vCool; and of Illinois', have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rubber' Vehicle-Tires, of

which the following is specification.

This invention relates to' improvements in rubber .vehicle tires, andrefers more specifically lto an irnproved `tire providedvrith a filling of peculiar character adapted to combine the advantages of a pneumatic tire :construction in which the operation of the .tire is. substantially that of anordinary pneumatic tire when inflated but whichwhen' punctured will not collapse and therefore avoids injury to the tire and rim; to provide a constructionwhicli `while possessing the characteristics and advantages stated, may be readily applied to or detached from the wheel rim and inflated in the usual manner; toprovide a construction in which the disten tion of the tire independently of its inflation, t'. e. after. it has been punciured, may be accomplished by simply irrjetingwater or analogous liquid, and injgeneral to provide an improved article of thecharacter referred to.

To the above ends the invention consists in the mat'- ters hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.:

The invention will be readily understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in 'Which- Figure l is a perspective view of a fragmentary portionof a tirey embodying my invention, one end of said portion being shown in transverse section; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken in the central plane ofthe wheel of a fragmentary portion of the tire'.

The problem of devising a rubber tire Which will possess the resiliency of a pne'umatic'filling but nevertheless will be-capable of at least a limited use after the tire has been punctured and thus prevent injnry to the tire'or rim during its travel to apoint 'where it 'can be repaired, is, ofcourse, a very old one.

I am aware that many expediente have been tried, such as making the tire of internally cellular structure,

providing a multiplicityof separately inflated tubesl within a single larger outer tube, or providing a tubular tire having a fibrous filling and which would give to the tir the characteristics of a cushion tire after puncturing.I So far as I am aware, howeverkit has not hereto fore been proposed to provide a tire which after being f 4Specification of Letters Pateunt.l Application led SeptemberlZm-IQOB. Serial No. 279.220,

facility asl though the filling were not present. The

RUBBER VEHICLIL-TIRE.

Patented sept. 10,1907.

puncturedl is capable of being distendednnd maintained in distended form independently of the lpneumatic inflation.

Describing a preferred and practical embodiment of the invention, I designates the rim of a vehiclewhecl, which in' the present instance is of channel form and adapted to receive a tire of the clencher type.

2 designatesas a whole an outer sheath composed of rubber and fabric and provided along its lateral edges with ribs 3 suitably shaped to' fit Within the lateral 65- grooves 4 of -the channeled rim. The sheath and rinr are so-constructed asto-provide sufficient space betweentheproxirnate edges 5 5 of the sheath to permit the latter to be forced inwardly sufficiently to disengage one ofthe ribs 3 whenthe tire is deflated orfpar- 7'0 muy defined.

Within the outer sheath is arranged an inner, tube G. of rubber which is of Suitable Size to fit ure interior of the sheath wh'en thelatter is in position in the rim and is of a length to.extend around-the circumference ofthe wheel and overlap somewhat at its meeting ends, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The inner tube is provided y with a filling of cellulose of such character thatwhen dry it is extremely light and lresilient and 'when moistened absorbs the water and expands with force. I have found the pith of cornstalks in granulated forrnto be highly suitable for this purpose.' This pith is highly porous, extremely light and resilient, and possesses in a marked degree the capacity of swelling or expanding when moistened. Th'e inner tube is filled with the granulated pith, as indicated at 7, and a sufficient quantity placed in they tube so that when the latter is put into place inside of the sheath, and the latter forced into position in the rim, the pith'will be packed and compressed to a considerable extent, not, however, .to such extent as to make it impossible to adjust the rsheath into, or removeI it from, the l The opposite sides of the end portions of the inner tube are brought together and cemented to each other, as indicated at 8, Fig, 2; the ends of the lled portions being preferably shaped Vto overlap each other obliquely, as also seen clearly in'Fig. 2'. In this man'ner the inner tube is lsealed in substantially .the saine manner as is common with pneumatie'ftires fthe clencher type unprovided with fillings. The inner tube is also provided with one or Inoreinflating nipples 9, preferably'several, attached to the rinner .side thereof and. extending out through Jthe rim in a manner well understood by those familiar with this art In operation, the tire after being adjusted' to positiony 'von the wheel is inflated with air through the nipple 9 until it acquiresithe desired'degree of resiliencyg'the granulated and cellular condition. of the fil ing permit- 'ting the tire to be inflated inall parte wit the same tent aslutofrender it impossible to keep'the filling within l the tire.,k the chauffeur may at his'option run the tire in deflated form on themellulose filling until such time as itcan be properly repaired and reinflated, or he may readily inflate the tire by .injecting steam or water into thecellulose filling through the puncture and through i the nipples. Inorder to facilitate the injection of the liquid or` steam, the inner tube is preferably provided with the plurality of nipples hereinbefore mentioned.'

The injection of water or steam causes the cellulose to expand 'and hold the tire distended effectively,so

cellulose to expand, and the cellulose is sufiiciently rethat,barring a slight loss of resilience, the tire is in condition to run .quite satisfactorily and without any dangerwhatever of injuring it by the cutting action of the rim, as does occur in running a deflated tire. It is, of course, obvious that the cellulos'e filling will' beample to prevent injury of the tire by cutting on the rim Aeven though the Water be not injected to cause the s ilient to afford a comfortably riding vehicle, independent of the pneumatic inflation. It is to be noted in this connection that the presence of the cellularl filling in the tire prevents-the free circulation of air when the wheel is running under pressure, and for this reason a' somewhat lower degree of ination pressure may be employed without lessening the buoyancy or permitting the 'tire to flatten in running. This is a feature of much importance because it is not uncommon for tires to burst by simply standing in tho sun and thus becoming heated, which, of course, indicates' that the degree oi pressure under-which iii' are ordinarily run approaches more closely than is desirable to a bursting pressure. It will be obvious that as each successive portion of the tire is brought. under pressure the air in that locality will be compelledl to filter through and' gradually distribute itself throughy the cellular filling, rather than rushingfreely away from the pointof preseurerv Obviously the rushing of the -air around the interior ofthe tire 1rapidly when the vehicle is running at Aa high speed generates heat, and this in turn increases the tensionof the air and danger of bursting. The presence of the cellular filling prevents the generation of that portion ofthe heat due to flowing friction and is for this reason beneficial.

I claim as my invntionz' 1. The combination with a Ivehicle wheel provided with a channeled rim; of a tirel comprising an outer .sheath of the clencher type ndaptedto said rim, a seaiedlnner'tnbe provided with one or more inilating inlets and a filling of cellular cellulose compacted within said inner tube, substantially as described. l

'..A A lencher tire, comprising an outer sheath, a sealed inner tube provided with an infiating inlet, the ends of said inner tube being overlapped and cemented together', and a filling of pith compacted within said inner tube; substantially as described.

3. A clencher tire, comprising an outer sheath adapted for a cleucher wheel rim, a sealedA inner `tube provided with an inflating connection, the overlapping ends of the inner tube being cemented together', and a filling composed ot granulated pith of corn-stalks compacted within said linner tube; substantially as described.

JOHN J. HENDLER.

Witnessesf ALBERT GRAVES, K. A. Cos'r'ELLo. 

